A More Preferable Ending to Skyrim
by EpicQuest
Summary: While I enjoyed Skyrim, I found the overall story and endings somewhat lacking in the direction I wanted to go with my character. So here's MY TAKE on how the game should have ended!


**Explanation:** Ever since playing my first Elder Scrolls game of Morrowind, I have been wanting a chance to play a truly evil character and destroy the empire. To me, the empire seemed like a bunch of self righteous ass holes, which was made obvious in Morrowind when they pretty much conquered the province by force and those who refused to submit were booted to the Ashlands and forced to live like savages. Necromancy was illegal, despite the fact that you could summon more types of undead in that game than in Oblivion or Skyrim, and despite their being the existance of a slave trade, you couldn't really do much with it, or even take part in capturing / selling of slaves unless you got the slaver mod.

Sadly, you could not use the Heart to become a god, and even after defeating Dagoth Ur, you do not kick the empire out of Morrowind which you were said to do in your prophecy.

I was excited about Oblivion taking place in Cyrodiil, especially since I learned that Necromancy was legal there, only to find that Arch Mage Jack-Ass decided to ban the practice of Necromancy from the guild, thus causing a war that nearly destroys his guild. After being declared Arch Mage myself, I was disappointed that I did not have the option to revoke the ban, or to form any kind of truce with Manimarco, as most of the mages who went evil or resigned as Necromancers did so because they were angry as Traven.

I was also disappointed that you couldn't join the Cult of the Mythic Dawn, and have to once again bend knee to the empire, despite the royal family being completely killed off. When the last of the royal family was destroyed, I already suspected that a new Dragonborn would be created, but I hoped that, like Talos, you could become a god at the end of your story and your descendants would become the new imperial family. No such luck, seems the Septims are replaced by some kind of sniveling coward.

When Skyrim rolled around, however, things got MUCH better, though still not completely perfect. Necromancy finally gave me the ability to raise the bodies of my enemies as zombie servants, complete with all the weapons, armor, and skills they had in life. Unfortunately, any other form of undead conjuration such as ghosts, skeletons, or wraiths was completely booted out, replacing them entirely with more powerful versions of zombies.

But then, I found out the empire was on its last legs, having only Cyrodiil, the Orcs, High Rock and Skyrim still remaining part of it, and that I could help Skyrim break off from the empire and make it even weaker!

But then I started thinking to myself, what if that's what they want me to do? If I join with the Stormcloaks, do they once again start a rebellion of humanity and overthrow the Elves? If I side with the empire, are they made strong enough to fight back the elves?

I wanted a 3rd and 4th option. For option number 3, I wanted the chance to join the Aldmeri Dominion.

And why the hell shouldn't I be able to? They want to make Elves the ruling race of Tamriel, well we have 4 different kinds of Elves: Dark, High, Wood, and Orc! Also, by this point in the game, they have conquered the Khajiit, turning them into vassals of the Aldmeri Dominion, so that's 5 out of 10 races I could have sided with the Elves and still had it fit in with the story!

This is especially true when playing as a High Elf, who pretty much run the Aldmeri Dominion. Why would my character who's already set up to be the ruler of the world choose to throw aside that chance and side with the Stormcloaks (who, by the way, want to kill / banish all Elves from Skyrim!) or the Empire (who the Thalmor are planning to either destroy or enslave completely)? You might pose the argument that my character has a kind and generous heart, but we both know that's bull shit! I'm raising zombies in the city streets and using black soul gems to bind my victims into powerful items of magic, so clearly being a hero is pretty damn far from my thoughts!

Also, I fucking hated the Blades and their demanding that I kill the dragons before they would associate themselves further with me. Oh what, the whole 2 remenants of the Blades are going to single-handedly scale the Throat of the World, kill the Greybeards, make it through the deadly snow storm, and kill the second oldest dragon on their own when the Greybeards alone can kick my ass in a matter of seconds?

Which brings me to ending number 4: I wanted to resurrect the Dragon Cults. After all, the cult priests, from what we have been able to gather, were extremely powerful, so clearly joining them had its benefits. But no, instead its "Dragons are evil, they must be purged!"

Then I find out that instead of getting an Elder Scrolls 6, we are getting an ES MMORPG which is a fucking PREQUEL to the Elder Scrolls series, taking place in the Second Era where nothing you do will have any sort of impact, because clearly the events have already been set in stone by the game's lore.

Well no more. This, dear readers, is MY ending to Skyrim, the way that I personally envisioned it for my character.

**Ending:** In the events following the war, the Dragonborn known as Alkoric shocked the country with his true actions. Although he was an Altmer, a High Elf, he had sided with the Stormcloaks in their war against the Empire, only to reveal that this was a ploy all along. His true intentions were to cause Skyrim to break away from the empire, much like Hammerfell had did after the signing of the treaty.

With two provinces having declared independence, and Elsweyr having been conquered, the Empire was dramatically weakened, enough to the point where it could not stop the second invasion of the Aldmeri Dominion when they finally launched their assault. But Alkoric would not be present to take part in that war.

With Ulfric Stormloack on the war path to expel all Elves and foreigners out of Skyrim, the Dragonborn locked himself away with the Greybeards atop the Throat of the World, where he would continue to study the Way of the Voice and master his Thuum. When the Empire fell, and the Thalmor set their sights upon conquering Skyrim itself, he emerged from the mountain as a terrible warlord.

Just like Talos himself who had turned the power of the Thuum upon the Elves of the past, Alkoric returned the favor by turning his own voice upon the Nords of Skyrim. With the power of the Aldmeri Dominion at his side, and their enslaved soldiers from lesser races, Skyrim didn't stand a chance, and the holds were captured in a matter of weeks, not months. Any Nord who refused to submit was killed, their souls being collected by the Dragonborn to create objects of great power, which were generously donated to the Aldmeri Dominion to fund any future conquests. By the end of the first year, Talos worship was stamped out completely from Skyrim, anyone who even so much as dared to utter his name was killed on the spot.

Alkoric then returned to his homeland of the Summerset Isles with a proposition for the Thalmor. He would pass on the secrets of the Thuum to those who were worthy enough for its power, but in exchange, they would have to aid him in the reconstruction of the Dragon Cults. During his conquest of Skyrim, he had collected all of the masks of the old Dragon Priests, and sought to pass them onto the most powerful of the Thalmor. Needless to say, they eagerly agreed to his terms, especially when they saw how effortlessly the Dragonborn had managed to conquer Skyrim with his newly mastered powers.

It took many years, but thankfully the Elves can live for centuries, unlike the weak and pitiful races of Man who barely reach a century at the luckiest. And so eventually, the Thalmor began to master the Thuum and the cults began to flourish once again when they began finding Dragons who discovered they enjoyed being worshiped and venerated again like the days of old.

Over time, however, Alkoric began to change, the more and more he used his Thuum openly, the more his mind, body, and soul came to resemble a Dragon. It was said that Talos himself looked like a dragon to all those who gazed upon him, due to the immense power of his Thuum, and it appeared that Alkoric was undergoing a similar evolution.

Roughly 40 years after mastering the voice and reviving the Dragon Cults, the once great Altmer had transcended to become a full fledged Dragon and was recognized as a new god within the Aldmeri Dominion. The powers and objects he had granted them allowed them to destroy and conquer the other provinces who would not freely bend knee to Elven supremacy, and Alkoric ascended to the heavens.

It is unknown exactly what happened, but at the same time that Alkoric rose to the heavens, a great streak of flaming light was seen crashing down from the sky. There were rumors by witnesses close to the incident who claimed that the light was none other than Talos himself, having fallen from the heavens when he lost the faith of the people, and was replaced by the newly risen Alkoric. These rumors, however, where quickly silenced when the Aldmeri Dominion began to perform executions on those who had the audacity to claim that Talos was ever located in the heavens to begin with. No mere human could or would ever be accepted has part of the Divines, Alkoric was the first citizen of Tamriel to have achieved that honor, not some backwards Nord barbarian.

And so ended the reign of the empire, and the return to power of the Aldmeri Dominion. With their homeland of Vardenfell being destroyed by Red Mountain and then later conquered by the Argonians, the Dark Elves were happy to form an alliance with the Aldmeri Dominion, especially if it meant obtaining revenge against the empire who forcefully subjugated them. The Redguards who before had been putting up a decent resistance on their own were now conquered by the new powers of the Dominion. The Orcs were difficult to persuade at first, being they were dedicated to honor over greed, but when they realized the empire was too weak to care for itself anymore, the Code of Malacath demanded they side with the stronger party.

The Breton, although a race of Man, were surprisingly quick to surrender themselves to the Aldmeri Dominion. After all, the Breton were actually descended from a race of Half Elves, the result of experimentation of the Altmer breeding with the Nedic human population. The Breton saw the empire was doomed, and realized the Altmer were distant cousins in a way, and decided a peaceful alliance was in order.

Alkoric now rules among the heavens, recognized as the 9th Divine in the pantheon, and all knowledge of Talos' existence has been eradicated from the nation of Tamriel. The worship of dragons has returned in force with cults scattered throughout the different provinces. The Blades are dead and gone, Alkoric revealing their hidden refuge and identities to the Aldmeri Dominion and ordering all trace of their legacy to be destroyed prior to his ascension.

Long live the Aldmeri Dominion, the Saviors of Mer, and Conquerors of Man and Beast! Long live the Dragons who pass the secrets of the Thuum to their cultists and ensure that no mere human shall ever raise hand against their Elven masters again.

And long live Alkoric, the Dragon of the North, the 9th Divine, may his rule in the heavens be eternal and glorious, and may his mortal descendants carry on his legacy as proud and upstanding nobility among even the highest ranks of the Thalmor!

**So tell me, what did you think about my personal ending to the Skyrim story?**


End file.
